Deformed reform by UMNO: JAC and MCAC
By Sim Kwang Yang
A man who has been starving for days would have welcome a small morsel of food flung contemptuously his way I suppose.
In a country where many thoughtful citizens have been dreaming of an independent judiciary and a powerful body to curb endemic corruption, the tabling of the Judicial Appointments Council Bill (JAC) and the Malaysian Commission for Anti-Corruption Bill (Maca) by Abdullah Ahmad Badawi a year ago would tend to arouse elation that eventually something good is going to be done.
By right, such important bills should have been published long before they are tabled in Parliament, to invite public discussion from all stakeholders, which in this case, is the entire population of Malaysia. But our patriarchal arrogant BN government would never dream of consulting the rakyat, so that is that.
I do not have a copy of the bills, so I can rely only on the information and views given by experts. One such expert is Param Cumaraswamy, prominent lawyer and former UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers.
He calls the JAC Bill disappointing, especially when there was no effort to amend Article 121 of the Constitution. The original Article 121(1) of the Constitution conferred the judicial powers of the Federation on the courts, thereby ensuring the independence of the judiciary from any possible intervention from the other two branches of government, the executive and the legislature.
In a bill tabled to amend the constitution in 1988, following the infamous judicial crisis that saw many excellent and respected judges sacked from office, this article was replaced by “judicial power vested” in the courts “as may be provided by federal law”.That amendment subjugates our judiciary to the legislature, and hence the prime minister’s office which controls both House of Parliament.
